This invention relates to a display for merchandising products and, more particularly, to a display for merchandising frozen dessert products such as frozen ice cream novelty products. Specifically, this invention relates to an improved shelf design for displaying such products within a refrigerated merchandising display unit.
Merchandising displays are commonly used in supermarkets as well as other types of stores to display and merchandise items which are generally handled as self-service items. It has been regular practice in this area to display such self-service ice cream products in freezer sections having racks wherein the products are arranged on shelves in adjacent rows parallel to the shelf's front edge. Often, and especially in the area of ice cream novelty products, the products are kept in their shipping cartons which are merely placed within the freezer and either opened by the store personnel or by the customer so that product may be removed and purchased. Also, it has been general practice in the past to place different types of products in different sections of the frozen food department of a store such that the customer cannot access different types of frozen desert products, for example, from one freezer section.
One merchandising display to which the present invention is generally related is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,277,486 (the '486 patent), assigned to the assignee of this application and hereby fully and expressly incorporated by reference herein. The merchandising display disclosed in this patent includes round, rotatable shelves which rotate by gravity under the weight of the product contained on the shelves. In this way, the shelves constantly feed product toward the front of the display. The display disclosed in the '486 patent further contemplates a unique shape which provides efficient air circulation throughout the display's product compartment. The merchandising display of the '486 patent was specifically directed to the display and refrigeration of beverage products and therefore included rather simple, pan-shaped shelves for holding the beverage products.
It has become apparent that it would be desirable to have a merchandising display for holding and displaying at the point of purchase, for example, multiple and varied types of products such as frozen dessert products or ice cream products for customers to choose from and purchase at one location.